Lunardi’s employee Raymond Kurt Fischer was arrested July 31 in connection with the crime. Authorities say he is cooperating with their investigation.

One of the victims of the Lunardi’s scam contacted a company called Pre-Paid Legal Services and asked them to present an identity theft education seminar. The free seminar is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Los Gatos Elks Lodge, 105 Newell Ave.

Topics that will be covered include protecting your mail, Internet transactions and simple things such as making sure you’ve signed the back of your credit cards.

“So many people have been hit; you just have to take care of yourself,” Pre-Paid associate Jan Dean said. “Utility companies, banks–all are being hacked into. People’s Social Security numbers are being used. It’s scary because you can’t prevent it.”

Pre-Paid Legal offers a membership program that provides continuous credit monitoring by a risk-consulting company. It also offers a sort of insurance that allows victims to recoup their losses. Attorneys work with victims to help them navigate the muddy waters.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, people whose identities have been stolen can spend years plus thousands of dollars trying to clear their names and credit record. The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.

“There are so many varieties of identity theft,” Dean said. “Some thieves are amateurs, while others are pros. They teach ID thievery in the Ukraine. It’s a syndicate. It’s the leading crime in the world.”

Because electronic crime is so rampant, the Secret Service has established an Electronic Crimes Task Force. Members include representatives from banks, law enforcement and academia. “It’s a forum for information sharing,” special agent Charles White said. “This stuff moves so fast you’ve got to get everybody on board.”

There is even a movement now to get Medicare to remove beneficiaries’ Social Security numbers from their identification cards. “Displaying (those numbers) on Medicare cards unnecessarily places millions of Americans at risk for identity theft,” Social Security inspector general Patrick O’Carroll said in a recent report.

The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would force Medicare to revamp its system.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.